RIDGEBACK SHOULD BE WHEATEN!

Rhodesian ridgeback standard clearly says:
Colour: Light wheaten to red wheaten
Wheaten is derived from the noun that describes grains that have that specific color
that is in the written standard of the breed, but if you ask us, this is also the colour of Africa.
​Savannah and desert shine in the same shades :).
Denise Flaim, the breeder and journalist from the US described it really good:
"Wheaten, which literally means the color of wheat, isn’t one flat, monochromatic color. If you look close up at a single Ridgeback hair, you will find that it’s actually banded, with light and dark shades ranging from a gold to a red. This variegation in the coat is what gives it “life.”
Look at these beautuful wheaten landscapes...this is excatly the colour that our breed has.

mid -wheaten colour

A Ridgeback should not look like it has been dipped in a bucket of paint.
​The color must not  the same on all parts of the body. It is always bit lighter on the scapula part, on the neck and stomach as well on the the back of the legs and buttocks.
This is probably why the word "wheaten" is chosen because it describes Ridgeback coat the best.

Light wheaten was the original color of RRs when they were first brought over from Africa but with years the dogs became darker and darker and this fashion is so wrong and bad for the breed.
Ridgebacks should come in all varieties of wheaten colours and no shade should be more worth than another because all are correct and beautiful.

Denise said also: "Just as a wheat field may be many different colors, depending on the maturity of the crop, so too do Ridgeback coats vary. The lighter ones are a pale flaxen color, almost blonde, while on the other end of the spectrum dogs can be a rich reddish tone, though it should never appear muddy or mahogany, like that of an Irish Setter."
​Ridgebacks should not be too dark.

Light wheaten

Mid wheaten

Red wheaten

Dark red dogs are flashy an fashionable and in many parts of the world, even deep-red, mahogany or chocolate Ridgebacks which are even not in standard– have pushed out other wheaten shades.
Allaround judges mostly always award darker dogs in front of light ones because they are not deep enough in the standard so they think Ridgeback should be dark, but the breed specialist judges are always happy to see different shades of wheaten colour in the dogshow ring.
Light wheatens can still be found in Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and the United States but down in Europe there are few that we know and are imported from the USA.
​Hopefully in the future we will meet more "blondies" around,

MID WHEATEN

Our CIB MultiCh GCh BISS Mohaget's Major Maddox and his son Jamal Jambo Neomele are beautiful mid wheaten representatives of the breed

RED WHEATEN

Our Jada Jambo Neomele and  Ch Elvis Neomele have a darker shade of wheaten colour - red wheaten

LIGHT WHEATEN

light-wheaten colour

GCH VYRTUOUS CAMEO PERFORMANCE SC (USA)
​The most beautiful light-wheaten Ridgeback we have evers seen

We are so happy that we will add to our wheaten spectre one beautiful light wheaten girl from the last Komainu litter and then we will have a nice range of wheaten colours in our kennel.
Another light wheaten girl we have will also end up in breeding in other part of the Europe as she goes to the kennel, so we hope that the number of light wheaten dogs will start to rise and that the breed will be back on the track with its colours.

What is interesting about our Komainu litter is that we have a huge spectrum of wheaten shades :) from light wheaten to the deep red wheaten ones.

If you are not deep enough into the breed, you would probably say:
" Wooooo wo woooo...wait a minute!
In a previous text you wrote that Ridgebacks should not be too dark!
What about that dark puppy on the left side of a photo?".

Ridgeback puppies change coat colour while they grow. They start to change to a different color within a few short weeks after it's first day of birth. Although most of the change in color occurs within a few weeks, Ridgeback puppies will continue to change color all the way through puppy hood and adolescence, although to a much lesser, almost imperceptible degree. They eventually will settle into a their permanent coat color by the time they are about 6 to 7 months old.
So if you love some special wheaten shade, while choosing a puppy, look at the colour of puppy's forehead or legs below elbows. The wheaten shade on these parts of body will be the shade that your dog will have as an adult! Good to know, ha?! :)

KOMAINU litter

So, it is important to understand that Ridgebacks should not be very dark.
It should not be mahogany or chocolate.
​These colours are not in Ridgeback standard.
Ridgebacks are "wheaten" in all shades from light-wheaten over 
mid-wheaten to the red-wheaten colour and we love them all.
​​